Built by Chelomei/NPO Mashinostroenia, the bulging 10 m missile has swept-back wings and tail, weighs around 7,000 kilograms and can be fitted with either a 750 kg HEwarhead, a FAE warhead, or a 500 ktthermonuclear warhead. A stubby cylindrical solid-fuel rocket is fitted to the rear for launch; this booster stage is released when the missile enters sustained flight. For many years it was believed that this missile used a turbojet engine during the sustained flight; after the Russian and the Western media gained access to its performance characteristics, it was understood that its propulsion system was a ramjet.[4][5]

The missile, when fired in a swarm (group of 4–8) has a unique guidance mode. One of the weapons climbs to a higher altitude and designates targets while the others attack. The missile responsible for target designation climbs in short pop-ups, so as to be harder to intercept. The missiles are linked by data connections, forming a network. If the designating missile is destroyed the next missile will rise to assume its purpose. Missiles are able to differentiate targets, detect groups and prioritize targets automatically using information gathered during flight and types of ships and battle formations pre-programmed in an onboard computer. They will attack targets in order of priority, highest to lowest: after destroying the first target, any remaining missiles will attack the next prioritized target.[9][10] Such description received some doubts.[11] The missile has a means of countering the attacking anti-missiles. Also, the on-board computer carries data designed to counter an enemy's electronic warfare and to evade counter-measures.[12][13]

The P-700 was derived from the P-500 Bazalt missile with a turbojet.[14] The P-700 was in turn developed into the P-800 Oniks, which uses ramjet propulsion, and the BrahMos missile, a joint Indian/Russian modernization of the P-800.

Deployment

Initial deployment was aboard the cruiser Kirov (now the Admiral Ushakov) in 1980 and the missile entered service on 19 July 1983.[12]

Unusually for an aircraft carrier, the Kuznetsov-class also carried 12 Granit launchers. This gave the Admiral Kuznetsov an additional primary attack capability,[15] but also had the political advantage of classing the vessel as an aircraft cruiser instead.[i] Unconfirmed reports say that the missiles were removed in 2000, to provide more aircraft hangar space.

The Kursk carried 24 missiles when it sank following a torpedo explosion during an exercise on 12 August 2000. The Russian navy was extremely concerned about possible NATO attempts to recover a missile and guarded the site of the wreck throughout the recovery effort. The missiles were recovered intact following a $65 million salvage operation.[16][17][18][19]

The size of the missile limits the platforms on which it can operate and be launched from.[20] It has only been deployed from Oscar-class submarines, Kirov-class battlecruisers, and the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. Ships of all three types will have their Granit missiles replaced with new launch cells to carry smaller Oniks and Kalibr[21] cruise missiles in greater numbers.

P-1000 Vulkan deployment

The P-1000 missile was partially derived from the P-500 and P-700.[22][23][24] Its maximum speed is claimed to be between Mach 1.5 - Mach 2.5 depending on altitude, and its range is claimed to be between 700 and 1000 km (800).[25] Warhead: 500 kg. Years of production 1985-1992.[26] The body of the missile resembles that of the P-500, but it has the ability of the P-700 to overcome defensive countermeasures. Long range missile can achieve the target only at low altitudes (up to 25 meters or lower) approximation (in which case the maximum range is less than 500 km).

The missile has a Granit type engine. It can be operated on new Yasen-class submarine, and can be loaded on ships. Coastal versions of the anti-ship missile are under development. The missile is developed at NPO Mashinostroyeniya.3M-51 Alfa is also designated as Novator KTRV, Morinform Agat, 3M54, 3M54E and P-900 types.The new cruise missile was designed for use in the Russian Navy. Modernization of Kirov-class battlecruiser, other new battlecruisers, destroyers and cruisers may include 3M-51 Alfa that can be refitted on ships with existing Zircon, Grom Meteorit, GELA, P1200 Bolid or P-1000 Vulkan missile launchers.Despite a secrecy surrounding the new missile, it can be presumed that it holds promise as an exportable weapons system.

An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be targeted in this manner.

The Kirov class, Soviet designation Project 1144 Orlan (sea eagle), is a class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers of the Soviet Navy and Russian Navy, the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships (i.e. not an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship) in operation in the world. Among modern warships, they are second in size only to large aircraft carriers, and of similar size to a World War 2 era battleships. The Soviet classification of the ship-type is (Russian: тяжёлый атомный ракетный крейсер, "heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser"). The ships are often referred to as battlecruisers by Western defence commentators due to their size and general appearance.The appearance of the Kirov class played a key role in the recommissioning of the Iowa-class battleships by the United States Navy in the 1980s.The Kirov class hull design was also used for the Soviet nuclear-powered command and control ship SSV-33 Ural.

The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier, Soviet designation Project 11435, is a class of fixed-wing aircraft carriers (heavy aircraft cruiser in Soviet classification) operated by the Russian and Chinese navies. Originally designed for the Soviet Navy, the Kuznetsov-class ships use a ski-jump to launch high-performance conventional aircraft in a STOBAR configuration. The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which could only launch VSTOL aircraft. Two ships were originally laid down at the Nikolayev South Shipyard in the Ukrainian SSR, followed by the first of the Ulyanovsk-class nuclear-powered supercarriers.

The plans were disrupted by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Only the lead ship Admiral Kuznetsov had been commissioned when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and the ship now serves in the Russian Navy. Her sister ship Varyag remained in Ukraine unfinished and unmaintained for a decade before being sold and towed to China for use as a floating casino. Instead, the ship was eventually completed and commissioned in 2012 as the Chinese navy's first aircraft carrier, the Type 001 aircraft carrier Liaoning. A third ship is being built by China to a modified Type 001A design and is expected to be commissioned in 2019. It began sea trials on May 13, 2018.

NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russian: НПО машиностроения) is a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia. During the Cold War it was responsible for several major weapons systems, including the UR-100N Intercontinental ballistic missile and the military Almaz space station program.

India is Mashinostroyeniya's second largest customer after the Russian Federation for sale of P-70 Ametist, BrahMos, BrahMos-II and P-800 Oniks.

The Oscar class, Soviet designations Project 949 Granit and Project 949A Antey, (NATO reporting names Oscar I and Oscar II respectively), are cruise missile submarines (SSGNs) designed in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. They are currently in service with the Russian Navy with some of the vessels planned to be modernized into the Project 949AM to extend their servicelife and increase combat capabilities.

The Project 949 submarines were the largest cruise missile submarines in service until the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines were converted to carry cruise missiles in 2007. They are the fourth largest class of submarines in displacement and length. Only the Soviet Typhoon-class, Russian Borei-class and the American Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) are larger.

The P-800 Oniks (Russian: П-800 Оникс; English: Onyx), also known in export markets as Yakhont (Russian: Яхонт; English: ruby), is a Soviet / Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr. Its GRAU designation is 3M55, the air launched Kh-61 variant also exists. The missile has the NATO reporting codename SS-N-26 "Strobile". Development officially started in 1983, and in the 1990s the anti-ship missile was tested on the Project 1234.7 ship. In 2002 the missile passed the whole range of trials and was commissioned. It is reportedly a replacement of the P-270 Moskit, but possibly also of the P-700 Granit. The P-800 was used as the basis for the joint Russian-Indian supersonic missile BrahMos.

Kirov is the lead ship of the Kirov class of nuclear-powered missile cruisers. Originally built for the Soviet Navy, it was one of the biggest and most important surface combatants of the Russian Navy. It is similar in displacement to a World War I battleship. Although commissioned as a missile cruiser, Kirov's size and weapons complement have given her the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser throughout much of the world. The appearance of the Kirov class was a significant factor in the U.S. Navy recommissioning the Iowa class. She was named after a Project 26 cruiser (named after Sergey Kirov, a Bolshevik hero).

The K-442 Chelyabinsk is an Oscar class SSGN within the Russian Navy. The submarine is currently located at the Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base, in Vilyuchinsk, near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and belongs to the Russian Pacific Fleet.

Krasnodar (K-148) was a Russian Oscar-class submarine which was launched in March 1985 and decommissioned in late 2012. The retired nuclear submarine was renamed "Submarine 617". On March 17, 2014 a fire broke out on or near the vessel during its scrapping at the Nerpa Russian Naval Shipyard near the administratively closed city Snezhnogorsk. A spokesperson for the shipyard reported that the fire was quickly extinguished, without injuries or radioactive releases.

The K-456 Tver is a Russian Oscar class SSGN of the Russian Navy. It was commissioned in 1991 as part of the Russian Northern Fleet and was transferred to the Russian Pacific Fleet in September 1993. The submarine is currently based at the Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base, in Vilyuchinsk, near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The P-5 "Pyatyorka" (Russian: П-5 «Пятёрка»; "Pyatyorka", "fiver" in English), also known by the NATO codename SS-N-3C Shaddock, is a Cold War era turbojet-powered cruise missile of the Soviet Union, designed by the Chelomey design bureau. The missile entered service in 1959. Pyatyorka is a common name for the missile as the "digit 5", corresponding to the R-7 Semyorka, the digit 7.

The basic version of the missile was an inertially-guided submarine-launched cruise missile to threaten the US coast. The missile could be armed with either a 1000 kg high explosive or a 200 or 350 kt nuclear warhead.

It had a speed of about 0.9 Mach, range of 500 km and CEP of about 3000 m. The later variant had a range of possibly up to 1000 km.

The first missiles were installed in Project 644, Whiskey Twin Cylinder and Project 665, Whiskey Long Bin submarines.

Versions of P-5 were later developed equipped with radar homing to be used as anti-ship missiles. The last anti-ship versions were retired from active service about 1990, replaced by the P-500 Bazalt and P-700 Granit.

There were actually three versions of turbojet-powered, cruise missiles that were called "SS-N-3" by Western intelligence sources, with multiple variants. The earliest, P-5 was called SS-N-3c, and later versions SS-N-3a and SS-N-3b.

The various Russian designations are believed to be P-5 "Pyatyorka", P-6, P-7, and P-35 Progress. Some sources indicate that missiles 'P-10' and 'P-25' may also have existed.

NATO called the submarine-launched radar-homing versions of the P-6 SS-N-3A 'Shaddock'. These were carried by Echo II- and Juliett-class submarines for targeting US aircraft carriers. The Echo I-class submarines were incapable of accommodating the targeting radar for the anti-ship version, and were not equipped with missiles after the land-attack variant was withdrawn, probably in the mid-1960s when sufficient nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) became available.

Russian sources indicate that there was only submarine-launched version of P-5. The surface-launched, radar-homing version called P-35 was used by Kynda- and Kresta I-class guided-missile cruisers. The P-7 was possibly a longer-ranged version of the P-5, or a further development of the P-6.

There were also land-based versions of these missiles transported in and launched from an eight-wheel truck (ZIL-135KM) as coastal defense missiles. These were designated SPU-35V "Redut" or NATO "SSC-1 Sepal". Yugoslavia deployed this system on the island of Vis.

A submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a submarine (especially a SSG or SSGN). Current versions are typically standoff weapons known as land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), which are used to attack predetermined land targets with conventional or nuclear payloads. Anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) are also used, and some submarine-launched cruise missiles have variants for both functions.

A submarine-launched missile is a missile that can be launched from a submarine. They include ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and cruise missiles (SLCMs). SLBMs are launched vertically; some other types are fired through the submarine's torpedo tubes.

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